Why We Need the FASTER Act

The Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research (FASTER) Act helps to both improve the safety of those in the food allergy community and expand the research necessary to find new treatments. Consider:

• More than 1.5 million people are allergic to sesame, yet it’s not required to be included on any product labels. 
• 32 million people suffer with food allergies. But there is only one FDA-approved treatment, and it only helps those with peanut allergy. 
• The federal government spends just 19 cents per person on research.

The FASTER Act is the first step to changing all of this. The bill:

• Updates allergen labeling laws to include sesame.
• Requires the federal government to analyze the most promising research opportunities to help scientists develop more effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure for food allergies. 

FASTER has been introduced in both the House and Senate. Our goal is to pass it and get it onto the president’s desk in 2020.